How to make a sales success at a premium price

The success of Yoplait’s Oui yoghurt shows how connecting to the Key Trends is the surest way to increase your chances of success.

Once the leader in the US yoghurt market, Yoplait was late to enter the Greek yoghurt race, and, as a result, it still lags Chobani and Danone, with sales down by 20%.

But with the success of its Oui brand, a ‘French-style’ yoghurt sold in single-serve glass pots, Yoplait has shown that the often-made claim that “Big Food” doesn’t know how to innovate isn’t true. Here is why:

Oui also connects to the mega-trend of people wanting foods that are ‘as natural as possible’. It’s made with simple, non-GMO ingredients like whole milk (Key Trend 9 – Fat Reborn), pure cane sugar (Key Trend 4 – Sugar), real fruit and yoghurt cultures. It contains no artificial preservatives, no artificial flavours and no colours from artificial sources.

And what is Yoplait’s reward?

Oui is on track for $100 million (€90 million) in annual sales, despite selling at a 200% premium to regular yoghurt (when compared on a price per kilo basis). What’s more, Oui has achieved this in a year in which US yoghurt consumption actually fell slightly. That shows the power of connecting to the Key Trends.